Hi Eric,

Good point. I agree. I think they are missing the boat by going to a gas
engine. It is so contrary to the clean, quiet, simple to operate, reliable
system in the Antares 20E.

I wish I could afford one!

Good Soaring,
--
Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
MaD wrote:
schrieb:

The 18T sustainer would be the sinky kind.



And the reason for that is given he
http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.de/engl...u/menu-akt.htm

The engine could be smaller but the battery pack almost the same size
as for the 20E would make it a *very* heavy 18m glider.

From the Antares site:

"Building a self-sustainer utilizing electrical propulsion is currently
not possible, because in order to achieve the range required for a
self-sustaining glider, the size of the battery-pack would have to be
comparable to the pack installed in the Antares 20E. This is contrary to
the basic idea behind a self sustaining glider, which is to provide a very
economical way of staying aloft."

I think it is odd they accepted the range limitations of an electric
system for the 20E, which has about 1/3 the powered range my ASH 26 E, but
weren't willing to accept a similar range limitation for a sustainer. I
suggest a sustainer that could climb 3000' on it's battery would be enough
for a majority of pilots, and this would allow a significantly smaller
battery to be used.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

www.motorglider.org - Download "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane
Operation"